Love him or hate him, Elon Musk has become one of the most important leaders within the US government, and his influence has ignited fierce debate across the political spectrum. Rather than labeling Musk’s involvement as entirely good or bad, I take a more practical stance: leveraging Musk’s influence and potential while addressing the risks and issues that could come with it.

First, one major advantage of Musk’s role is that the ambiguity in his job and department allows him to bypass bureaucratic delays. We can leverage Musk and DOGE’s legal freedom to let them efficiently combat important economic issues, with Musk himself claiming he can cut up to $2 trillion, or nearly 30% of the annual budget (though this would be an enormous endeavor). Useful as this is, legal measures still need to hold him accountable. After all, with how many companies Musk owns, many potential conflicts of interest could arise. Even as we embrace the cost-cutting benefits of DOGE, we should implement conflict-of-interest and corruption committees to aid oversight.

Next, we must address the major issues of Musk’s main inspiration to enact DOGE’s budget cuts being Argentinian president Javier Milei, while not discounting the promising vision of following Milei. Milei, an unorthodox but capable economist and politician, tackled Argentina’s extreme debt and hyperinflation (the highest in the world). However, this approach isn’t fully transferable to America, which just has to stabilize a strong economy, not overhaul a collapsed one, preventing Musk from directly copying Milei’s policies. The second Trump/Musk-Milei chasm is messaging; Milei warned of economic “short-term pain, long-term gain,” while Trump and Musk promised rapid economic recovery from the failed “Bidenomics.” Furthermore, Trump has promised not to cut social security and medicare, restricting about one third of the annual U.S. budget from Musk’s cuts. Despite Musk’s strong Argentinian-based vision and Milei’s likely advice and support (given his close friendship with Musk and Trump), these obstacles must be acknowledged and addressed. So while adapting Milei’s successful policies is valuable, they must be adequately tailored to our specific situation.

Additionally, Musk’s many conflicts-of-interest must be addressed and prevented from impacting his decisions in office, but we should still utilize his relationships with his companies to redrive growth and competition in the American market. Musk’s bias could lead to him using his influence to sidestep government regulations on his companies and influence Trump’s policies to weaken his competitors (e.g., tariffs could target Tesla competitors which import parts from abroad).  His bias is prevalent even now, as he’s opposed Trump’s AI StarGate project due to his legal “beef” with OpenAI/ChatGPT head Sam Altman, a project leader. These dangers could be combated with a committee to define and act upon opposing interests within DOGE. After all, flawed and inefficient as they are, bureaucratic measures are for a reason—combating abuse of power. But committee or not, I still firmly believe that limiting, but not restricting Musk’s influence could be very beneficial. This way, Musk’s valuable advice and experiences in the US market/economy could quickly reach political higher-ups, streamlining government decision-making and avoiding many tedious bureaucratic processes. As a result, if properly confined, Musk’s influence could spark positive economic effects and competition without it becoming problematic, but again it must be somewhat restricted.

In conclusion, I believe that by looking beyond the childish “black and white” or “right and wrong” views of Musk’s influence as a whole, we can get to the bigger picture. We can harvest the potential that Musk brings to the American table while setting clear limits on his power and calling out flaws in his plans.  This means streamlining decisions while setting anti-corruption limits, adapting Milei’s economic vision appropriately, and mitigating Musk’s biases in a way that drives economic growth. For better or worse, Musk’s entry and influence in the new administration marks a pivotal moment in US history. Let’s prevent and recognize future issues and nurture future successes, ensuring Musk’s role leads to real, lasting change